The big stunner at the 2008 E3 Microsoft press conference announcement that Final Fantasy XIII was scheduled for a simultaneous release on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the United States. The consolation to this news was the JRPG’s exclusivity in Japan but even this stipulation came with a cloud of uncertainty. Safe to say, the rumors proved to be true.
As confirmed by popular Japanese magazine, Dengeki, the Square Enix blockbuster is scheduled to release on the 360 complete with English voice acting and a few additional goodies. One such confirmed extra is a new “Easy Mode” most likely tweaking the difficulty in favor of the new potential buyers. But why release a game over a year later in the Japanese region on a platform that is not as successful? There are undoubtedly owners of the Microsoft console in the area that may have purchased the console for other Square Enix RPG’s even. For those owners, this re-release should serve as a welcome addition for their American machine.
Looking back at the other Final Fantasy related rumors, such as FF Versus XIII abandoning its PS3 exclusivity, there is good indication that these can and will come to fruition as well.
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